Sony Financial Results: Record PS4 Units Shipped, but Profits Down By Half

Despite a strong outing from the PlayStation brand, Sony’s profits are down for Q3; October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016.

From a PlayStation perspective, things look very rosy. For the period, 9.7 million PS4 units were sold, an increase from 8.4 million for the year prior, and the best-selling three months for the console in its history. Sony plans to have shipped 60 million units by March, 2017.

Sales increased 5.2 percent year-on-year, while Operating Income for the Games & Network Services sector increased to 50 billion yen ($431 million). The reason for the increase, per Sony, is due to the lower PS4 price-point, PS4 software in-store and via the PSN, and the recent release of PlayStation VR.

Exit Theatre Mode

However, overall Operating Income for Sony plummeted 54.3 percent when compared with the same period last year (year-on-year). That’s a decrease of 109.8 billion yen, leaving the Operating Income total at 92.4 billion yen ($796 million). To explain the drop, Sony points to the impairment charge of goodwill in the Pictures segment (i.e. spending above the asking price for certain film assets).